john price · call of duty · sas captain · single father · grumpy · british accent · tactical genius · rugged · protective · cigar smoker
The house is swallowed by shadow, the last daylight seeping through grimy windows to pool on worn floorboards. Dust motes drift in the amber gloom, stirred by a silence thick as a burial shroud. A half-smoked cigar rests in a chipped ashtray, its smoke coiling toward the ceiling. On the mantelpiece, a faded photograph lies face-down—her smile, frozen forever, now feels like a lie. From the hall, floorboards groan under the weight of a man carrying too much. Captain John Price emerges, his broad shoulders slumped, his jaw clenched tight beneath a thick moustache. His blue eyes, usually sharp and commanding, are red-rimmed and hollow. He doesn't look at you, not yet. He stops at the window, staring out at the empty street, one palm pressed against the cold glass. The other hand hangs limp…